Spring Color Spectrum

Based on the leafiness of the trees along the Vancouver Seawall I would estimate that the blossoming phase of spring 2007 is 80% complete. A few of the more reluctant trees are just now budding but the vast majority are either finished sprouting their fresh virginal green or are nearly so.

We've even had our first grass mowing.

The weather for the next week or more looks to be glorious with warm sunshine and little cloud or rain. I think I'll gamble and start the 7 Day Sunset-Photo-O-Rama this afternoon. Last evening's sunset was quite pleasant and the weather today promises an even better display this evening.

Nice Day ... If You're An Anaheim Mighty Duck!!

I'm a fair-weather hockey fan and with my home town Vancouver Canucks going up against the stinky Anaheim Mighty Ducks (Vancouver lost) and the Ottawa Senators going toe to toe with the New Jersey Devils (Ottawa won) I'm thrilled. Over the next few weeks I expect I'll watch more hockey than I normally see over the course of a year.

The rain continued today and after the Ottawa vs New Jersey game, right near sunset, I went out for an hour long walk in the rain and caught this photo of a glimmer of sunshine reflecting off one of the majestic and very wet iron sculptures on Sunset Beach. It's amazing what a bit of fill flash and your basic point-and-shoot camera can produce these days.

The environment this photo was taken in was a scenario these basic but powerful cameras are built for. Point & shoot cameras are easy to use, environmentally rugged and inexpensive to the point that I've no worries about bringing them along on a walk in the pouring rain. They can handle a bit of abuse and unlike a Nikon D80 (a camera that cost just over 10 times as much as my no-nonsense Cannon Powershot A530 5 mega-pixel camera) the little workhorse camera was there when the Nikon stallion was not.

As always diversity is the key. The right tool for the right time.

Nice Day If You're A Duck

We have a rule here in Vancouver. If, after several days of rain, someone says the phrase "Nice day ... If you're a Duck!!" and then laughs in that slightly deranged way us Wet-Coasters will do after days of rain we're allowed to punch them. Alternatively, if you're not violently inclined, we can reply "Ya know, city bi-laws allow me to punch you for saying that. However, since I'm in a good mood I gonna let it slide. ... This time."

Here's a slice of the Vancouver Seawall looking like something out of one of those Post Apocalypse movies. You know, the ones where the hero awakes and discovers that everyone on the planet, except him, a fabulous babe and hordes of zombies has vanished.

This view is of the section of the Seawall between Sunset Beach, which starts at the base of the Burrard Street Bridge, and English Bay Beach, which is where Denman, Davie and Beach Ave intersect.

Today was a great day for a walk along the Seawall in the rain with mostly just the die-hard walkers such as myself, the poo-people taking their dogs for a walk and a smattering of Japanese tourists.

Oh, .. and lots of ducks. :)

Fresh Pacific Rain Drops

Such a sad day today.

The rains beat against my apartment windows for most of the morning and afternoon and turned a 45 minute walk along the seawall into a chilled and somber affair.

The rain I am used to. In fact, as a slightly overweight power walker I love the cool mist on my face.

The events that unfolded today at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA however I will never get used to. Like a bad dream that keeps coming back to punish the sleeper for a transgression they have no recollection of having committed more children died today.

But, the empathy of nature knows no bounds and as I watched the dismal evening news the sun broke through the rain clouds and flooded English Bay with warm gentle light. Perfect macro-photography light in fact.

The smell of a wet beach, pacific air and the feeling of spring sunshine on my face beats anything on TV. Especially today.

Downtown Seawall

As Vancouver's downtown has grown and new developments have emerged along the north and south shorelines of the city core the double lanes of the Seawall path has grown right along with it. I'm not sure of the exact length of this 21st century foot and bicycle path but ... totally wild guess here ... I would say that start to finish the Seawall is now well over 40 km in length. A serious morning or afternoon of biking alongside the most picturesque scenery anywhere in Canada.

Today I decided to hit the north side of the Seawall and after a 15 minute drive around the interior of the park to survey the progress of the repairs of last winter's storm damage I parked and hit the trail. It was a great mid morning two hour walk with cool spring sunshine and light crowds.

The devastation in the park still amazes me even though I've seen it dozens of times now. For you weather fans a one hour tour of today's Stanley Park will show you, in very graphic and ugly detail, the effects of storm induced micro-cells. These are little tornadoes that popped up in the park during the peak of the storms. Micro-nukes. Huge gigantic building sized trees flattened while 10 meters away nothing.

Shudder. I still remember the two most vicious of the storms. The one in November in particular. I've been witness to some nasty storms in English Bay over the past 16 years but that night the storm was different. Not only did it set records and nuke the crap out of Stanley Park there was something almost animal about it. At 3:00 AM, as the storm lashed away at my apartment 32 floors over the bay, at times I could hear this deep harmonic moan. The sound people say they hear just before a tornado strikes.

Tomorrow is the big Vancouver Sun Run 10k marathon and, unfortunately, the current forecast is predicting a brutally sunny day. Ugh. The event always makes for some awesome pictures as 51,000 sweaty Vancouver-ites run past my apartment at Beach and Thurlow. This year I think I'll stand out front and as the first serious marathoners streak past my apartment I'll yell encouraging and West-End crazy things like "You kids get off-ah my lawn!!" :)